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Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker have warned that young athletes could be driven to suicide if social media companies do not stamp out abusive comments, and fear rising Indigenous stars will hide their cultural heritage to avoid racist slurs online.

A Code Sports Investigation has found that Australia’s Indigenous athletes and high-profile female athletes receive inappropriate, racist and sexist comments on average every two days.

Data compiled by SocialProtect, an app that blocks abusive comments before they can be seen by the owners of verified accounts, also reveals that NRL players receive abusive comments every three days.

Anecdotal evidence suggests a negative comment posted on social media gains 12 times the traction of a positive comment, hence the reticence of these companies to clamp down on trolls because it will cut engagement time and impact their business models.

NRL stars Mitchell and Walker are leading the charge for Government intervention on online bullying, demanding laws that force social media companies to require identification for every account created.

“Suicide happens every day because of online bullying,” Mitchell said.

“People see it, government see it, these social media platforms see it, but they don’t want to make change.

“So the shoe has got to be on the other foot and they’ve got to realise, what about if it happened to their families, the people that run the social media platforms, what if it happens to people in political roles, or their families are going through it, then what? Are you going to change then, because you’re getting affected by it?

“Why can’t we do it now, and make this change now before anything does happen.

“I think [Anthony] Albanese is probably the best Prime Minister I’ve seen since I’ve been alive, the way he’s running this country at the moment, I think he understands the situation that’s going on, I think he could be that we could tap into to be able to change these things and make it a reality.”

“If they’re reading this racism and these bad comments on social media, you don’t know what they’re going through behind closed doors.

“That’s the dangerous part of what people have to go through, they read this sort of stuff and that could potentially happen. We don’t want it to happen, but that’s the scary road it’s going down.”

FEARS FOR THE NEXT GEN

The South Sydney pair fear for the next generation of Indigenous athletes who are coming through amid a rising number of racist trolling attacks on our best NRL and AFL players.

“I think a lot of people, especially from our background, from an Indigenous background, are going to start hiding away from the fact that they are Aboriginals,” Mitchell said.

“[The abuse will start] pushing them away from their heritage, denial, put people into doubt. And we don’t want that, this is why we’re so strong in our shoes, because of the people who have come before us, our family, our bloodlines run deeper than anything.

“If social media aren’t going to be accountable and close that gap, so to speak, I think there’s going to be a lot of doubt and denial in being an Aboriginal man, or Aboriginal woman.”

Walker said they would continue to proudly represent their culture, regardless of the attacks.

“How we are as Aboriginal men, we stand up for these issues in Aboriginal communities, we stand up for our people, that brings confidence in young kids to be proud of who they are and where they come from,” Walker said.

“And if they’re reading things that Latrell goes through, or I go through, or other athletes go through, that puts that little bit of doubt in their mind, whether they want to be that.

“But we’re always speaking about our Aboriginality, how proud we are of who we are and where we come from, that breeds confidence in our younger generation. That is ultimately what Latrell and I are trying to achieve.

“We want our people to be strong and proud of who they are, because of what our people have faced for years and years, since white settlement. It won’t stop us being proud, and being staunch blackfellas.”

Mitchell, one of the most targeted sportsmen in Australia, still receives death threats and racist taunts despite having two of his trolls jailed after reporting them to police in 2021.

“It’s always got to be that connection with petrol because you’re an Aboriginal man, all these stereotypes and breakdowns that people have in their heads, it makes no sense at all.

“If people continue to be racist or abusive, I’ll continue to combat it.

“I’ve got people that have got my back.

“For me, people are starting to think before they act, especially because they know I won’t stand back and let it go, I’ll definitely screenshot it.

“The police will definitely get involved, I’ve got contacts in there with the integrity unit, there’s avenues there to combat this and if people want to say stuff, I’ll continue to call it.”

IS THERE A SOLUTION?

Mitchell added: “To get on social media, you should have to put a photo to be able to long on, like face recognition. Just something so simple, so that if you do step out of line, you are going to be tarnished, you’re going to have repercussions, you’re going to be accountable.

“That’s where social media has to step into.

“But when you come back to those stats, social media aren’t going to want to change that unless there [are] a lot more people on board with this. The negative comments have definitely got to be diminished.

“Everyone has got to be on board for this change to happen, the platforms have to understand that we are humans as well, we deserve to have our rights to be people.”

A common theme that emerged from athletes who have spoken to CSI about this issue is the importance of strong support from family, friends and their clubs.

“If you don’t have that support network around you, like someone I’ve got to lean on is Cody, my family, if people don’t feel like they have that, it’s an issue you can’t face on your own,” Mitchell said.

“It’s something that I’ve been able to combat with my outlet, my family, my support, the circle I have, this is why I keep turning up, this is why I want to keep being more than the average Joe, because I want better for our communities and our young fellas.

“I feel for my family, they’re the ones who are affected a lot more than myself. Obviously it cuts me, but I’ve got a job to do, I’ve got to turn up every week and not let it affect me.

“Obviously I have to have my outlets, that’s why I’ve got my cows, my farm, things that I enjoy because that’s my outlet to get away from this kind of stuff.

“I know it comes back to the tall poppy syndrome, people don’t want to see a black man achieving great things.

“I’ve got to keep pushing forward, and keep playing footy and doing what I love.”

ALARMING NUMBERS

Walker has managed to avoid racial abuse on social media for a few years now, but is alarmed at the data.

“It’s not acceptable in society, it’s a very disappointing stat that it gets 12 times as much traction, that’s the tall poppy syndrome that we have in the world, that a negative comment or story is going to get more traction than a feel-good, loving story,” Walker said.

“Social media have a responsibility because it not only affects you as an individual, it affects your family, your kids when they get a bit older and see this stuff on social media, I don’t know what the future holds in that aspect.

“As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there is optimism there.

“You look back 50 years ago, when the 1973 Indigenous team toured New Zealand, and what they had to go through to get over to New Zealand, what they had to go through in the community back then, to see the change and the growth that the country’s had in those 50 years.

“But these instances feel like you’re getting pushed back two or three steps.

“I feel for these guys, (AFL players) Chad Wingard, Jamarra [Ugle-Hagan], Latrell, it’s all happened in these past few weeks and you start to wonder if it’s worth it, but at the end of the day it is worth it because of the growth we’ve had in the past 50 years.”

LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Rugby League Players’ Association boss, Clint Newton, utterly rejects the notion that athletes should simply log off social media if they don’t want to face abuse.

“Online abuse is now so common that it’s almost part and parcel of anyone having social media, and being a professional athlete only means the abuse is more public and you’re more exposed,” he said.

“For any person that is targeted, it’s incredibly wrong. To be honest, it’s hard to comprehend the fact we are still talking about it as a problem years and years after it became one, and that it feels like it’s just getting worse.

“It’s not a problem that athletes or anyone should face alone nor should those suffering from abuse be left feeling as helpless as they are right now.

“Unfortunately, the problem is so complex and widespread it’s now a community, national and international issue.

“That said, the benefit of it being so widespread is there are no excuses for any leader, administrator or person in positions of power to opt out of working collectively to solve it.

“We need to stamp it out before the behaviour becomes even more normalised with more unnecessary and meaningless trauma and pain.

“It’s not just the social media companies that are accountable for this problem. All media has a role to play in bringing it into focus and keeping it there until we see genuine and positive change. Governing bodies need to ask themselves if they’re doing enough because using their powers to create change for the greater good is a fair expectation from athletes.

“Online abuse cannot be tolerated and the answer is not turning comments off and blocking people. That’s not how dealing with abuse works in the real world, so I don’t know why people expect it would work differently in the digital world.

“As a player association, we will continue to speak up and advocate for change so that our players and their families are better supported to confront this completely unacceptable behaviour.”